


Project Horuto

by BlandProtagonist



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Sort Of, a lil gift for plance-thoughts on tumblr, plance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-09-01 04:37:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16758100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlandProtagonist/pseuds/BlandProtagonist
Summary: After managing to brainwash and gain control of both Holt siblings, the Galra use them against the paladins, capturing and analyzing them for unknown purposes. When the pair get to Lance, it doesn't go as smoothly as planned.Or did it?Based on a Plance-Thoughts tumblr post (link in the notes)





	Project Horuto

"And to say I once loved you."

"Pidge, please. Please don't do this. Pidge!"

The metal was no longer cold against the bare skin of his hands. How long had he been in here? He couldn't tell. Lance hadn't learned anything about metal and heat conducting and the time frame and- 

_Focus, Lance. What do you know? You know that there are at least three others in here somewhere. There are at least two people under Galra control._

Matt and Pidge were saying something that became unintelligible on his side of the glass. They glanced at him every few seconds, as if to make sure he was still there. He pulled at the restraints again. He wasn't going anywhere. He continued to cry out for her, begging that she let him go. The pair outside his enclosure didn't respond to them. Lance's cries turned into angry shouts at the Galra themselves.

"Let them go! I'll stay, I'll do whatever you want, just let them all go! Hey! You hear me?! You better take up that offer cause it's not going to last forever! You want a vrepit sa I'll give you a vrepit sa!"

His entire body shook with a mixture of terror and fury, hardly able to see straight anymore. Then he heard it. A low, pulsating sound. He lay as still and quiet as he could while trying to catch his breath. It continued a few more moments, then stopped. He looked over at Matt and Pidge, who were watching him through the glass. Matt said something under his breath, turned to what Lance assumed was some kind of machine just beyond the edge of his line of sight. Suddenly the sound was back, louder this time. He _felt_ the sound. How was that possible? It traveled through his body. It lasted a few moments, then stopped.

"What are you doing to me?" He did his best to stay calm. "What was that?"

Pidge looked over at him, her face unreadable. "Infrasonic sound waves. I'm surprised you could even hear them. We'll have to test your hearing later to see what else you can hear. Right now we're creating a 3D map of your body via sonar to-"

"Enough." Matt cut her off. "There's no point in telling him."

She stared at the Red paladin, but spoke to her brother. "What's the harm? He's the dumb one. He always has been."

There was a flicker in her eyes, just for a moment.

Lance caught it.

She looked away.

He relaxed, closing his eyes, and attempted to reach out to Red. There was a sudden shock shooting through his body; short, but making its point.

"Don't even try to summon your Lion or bayard." Matt's face was almost colorless. "We're monitoring your brainwaves. Thanks to Keith we have plenty of information on that."

"What did you do? Where are the others?"

"They're close." Pidge glanced back at him. Her eyes returned to Matt as he fiddled with something else beyond Lance's sight.

He waited.

Her eyes darted between the boys.

He waited.

He waited.

She gave a nod so quick and small that it would have gone unnoticed to anyone.

Anyone but, say, someone with a sharp eye.

Lance suddenly lurched. He shook violently, his breathing irregular and his heartbeat rising. Matt frantically attempted to reverse whatever it was he'd done as Pidge watched. Behind the glass, the paladin's adrenaline levels and temperature rose, his heartbeat erratic, and his cry of pain quickly faded out. Pidge beat on the glass.

"Hey! You are property of the Galra empire! Damage done to yourself is a crime under law!"

The siblings watched as the convulsions picked up and then, suddenly, stopped. He didn't move. The monitors showed a heartbeat, but no breathing. Giving an aggravated groan, Matt raced to the door of the glass enclosure, practically ripping it open. He didn't have the chance to lay a hand on him.

Lance watched as he stopped abruptly, then fell to the ground. Behind him, Pidge had her deactivated bayard in her hand. She'd knocked him out.

She wasted no time in freeing Lance of his restraints. "We have to go before they realize I'm not actually brainwashed-"

Lance had summoned his own bayard, aiming the barrel of his gun at her.

"Nice try. Real nice try."

"Lance? What the heck are you doing?"

"That's another strike." He slipped off the table and stood barefoot on the cold floor.

"What are you talking about?"

"You're not Pidge," he sneered.

"What? If you hadn't noticed, I just helped you get out! You played along!"

He jabbed at her, forcing her to back up. "First, you used science-y words without explaining them to me, then you called me the dumb one." He jabbed again. "Then, you tried to convince me that you were the real, not-brainwashed Pidge with little hints, like you were acting like that to get close to me. Pidge wouldn't have waited, she'd never play along with this, she wouldn't need Matt to find a way to open the door, and she'd never miss a chance to swear. And," another jab, "instead of knocking Matt out, she would've tied him up with her active bayard - not knock him out with a deactivated one. But you can't activate anyway, can you?"

He had her backed against the wall.

"Lance, I think you received some brain dama-"

"What's the name of our cow? How did we get the money to buy that video game at the mall? What game show were we on together?"

She said nothing.

"You can't answer those questions because you aren't Pidge." He pulled the trigger, striking her in the abdomen and piercing her Galra armor. She staggered back.

"When you love someone, your pupils dilate. It's not something you can control. Pidge taught me that. Yours didn't. In fact, I didn't even need _that_ to know you weren't her. Because another thing that happens when you love someone?" He shoved her to the ground. "You know the difference between her eyes and a total stranger's."

He snatched the green bayard from her.

"I'm not going to fall for another clone. You can tell that to whoever created you, assuming you're still alive to say it."

She watched as he slung Matt over his shoulder, her vision blurring. He shut the enclosure door behind him.

"Project... Horuto..." she whispered painfully, "Begin phase... Two... Paladin... At... Large..." She groaned.

As she breathed one final breath, the communication with the Pidge clone was cut. 

The communication with the Matt clone dangling over Lance's shoulder was activated. Phase two had begun.

**Author's Note:**

> The [post](https://plance-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/180529633397/i-dreamed-about-plance-again-friends-oh-my-god-it)
> 
> Just kinda threw it together sorry.
> 
> Also: 'Horuto' is Japanese for 'Holt'


End file.
